All England Club head groundskeeper Neil Stubley said Saturday that the grass courts for Wimbledon "would be fine through the end of the tournament next weekend" following criticism from some players, according to David Waldstein of the N.Y. TIMES. Stubley said, “There’s not a doubt in our minds.” A string of hot, dry days in the first week of the tournament "punished the grass, leaving dusty ruts around the most heavily trodden areas around the baselines, a common phenomenon at Wimbledon." But some lower-ranked players have "been vocal in their complaints, saying the surface has caused them to slip." On Saturday, Novak Djokovic said that he had "finally noticed it but that he did not think it was dangerous." Roger Federer said that the courts "were the same as always." But he also said that he was "curious how the conditions would be addressed going forward." After Federer’s match on Saturday, Stubley’s crew "watered Centre Court" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/9). The AP's Howard Fendrich noted very little rain has fallen over the first six days of the tournament, and Stubley said that the weather "led to more wear on the courts." He said, "Because we have daily monitoring, we can keep a very tight rein on everything. It never gets to the point where it's ever going to get away from us" (AP, 7/8).
PLAYER REAX: Andy Murray said, "The court, I don’t think, is in as good of conditions as previous years. There’s quite a few spots on the court, like just behind the baseline and just in front of the baseline, where there’s quite big lumps of grass, sort of almost like little divots there, which I don’t remember really being the case." Simona Halep added, "I cannot say the courts are bad because we know that the grass is like this. But I think because of the heat, the grass is a little bit too dry. Also the spots that the grass is gone, it’s a little bit dangerous. Yeah, I slipped a little bit at the beginning of the match" (WASHINGTON POST, 7/8). SI.com's Jon Wertheim graded court conditions as being a "B-minus." Wertheim: "It's hard to recall this many complaints from players about the playing conditions" (SI.com, 7/8).
